Singapore: Day 56

Our time is winding down. Laney left tonight, and Emily, James, and Angelo are leaving on Saturday morning. We met in the afternoon for Korean BBQ in Chinatown. It was only $16 for an all-you-can-eat buffet. The restaurant had many kinds of meats and various Korean dishes (kimchi, japchae, etc.) The food wasn't authentically Korean, but it satisfied my craving for spicy rice cakes and kimchi.

Buffet style KBBQ

Our table of food

After eating, we walked around in search of a herb store. James needed to buy ointments for his mother, and Laney and I followed along by buying the same ointment. We also visited Fairprice to buy last-minute souvenirs. I purchased kaya, bak kut teh spices, laksa spices, dragonfruit, and longan. A kind Singaporean picked out dragonfruit for me when I asked her how to pick our dragonfruit (you'd expect me to know this after eating a dozen of them.) I thanked her, and left for the spice aisle. About 5 minutes later, I saw her walking toward me with another dragonfruit; apparently she had found a better one and wanted to give it to me. I was extremely touched by her kindness.

When we were finished shopping at Fairprice, we split ways. Laney and Emily wanted to continue shopping, while Nelson, James, Angelo, and I returned to PGP. We were all quite tired at this point (the fact that we stayed up to share affirmations only made it worse), and James and Angelo fell asleep on the MRT ride.

Nelson posing with the sleeping beauty

A sleeping James

When we got back to PGP, we rested a bit and then prepared for the Annual Dinner with the Berkeley Club of Singapore. The dinner was held at the Four Seasons, a high-end hotel in Orchard. A group of us met at 6:30 PM to take the taxi there, and thankfully we bumped into Laney and had a chance to say goodbye before her flight. We separated into two taxis, and after a bit of traffic, we finally arrived at the Four Seasons an hour later.

The dinner started at 8, so we mingled with the alumni in the lobby. It was definitely an interesting experience, because we were connecting with other Cal students in a location far away from Cal. It was also interesting learning about why the alumni were in Singapore and whether or not they liked living in Singapore.

We started off the night with a brief game. The president of the Berkeley Club called all the current Cal students onto the stage for a trivia about Singlish; the prize was an iPad. The president named several words which none of us knew (shameful, I know, considering that we lived in Singapore for two months). Some of us took painful guesses, but Kate took home the prize when she made a couple of lucky and clever guesses. However, the boxed Apple product turned out to be a hoax: inside was literally an apple!

The game was very fun, and afterwards, we returned to our respective seats and began our dinner. The dinner was definitely a new experience, because I never had such an elegant meal before. The portions were very small, and surprisingly the food wasn't that distinctive.

Beef Carpaccio with Tomato Basil Fondue, Arugula, and Pecorino Cheese

Cosmopolitan Granite

Pan Roasted Cod Fish Mediterranean with Charred Vegetables, Herb Oil

Warm Chocolate Cake with Spiced Ice Cream and Orange Tuiles

I sat with two couples and their children. I spoke the most with Eric, who graduated as a rhetoric major from Cal and is now an investment analyst at Fidelity Investments. I asked him questions about relocating to Asia, because after my study abroad experience I was interested in living and working abroad. Towards the end of the dinner, he connected me with Alice, who is a Health Economics and Market Access Manager at Johnson & Johnson. I spoke with Alice for a long time about science in Asia, and she suggested that I stay in the United States for graduate school and research. Asian R&D are focused on making affordable products for the Asian markets, while the U.S. houses the original R&D headquarters and thus produce more competitive research and goods. Alice also said the name of an American university will carry me further than an Asian university, so I should stay in the U.S. for graduate school. This conversation disappointed me, because I was hoping to return to Asia in a nearer future, but I directed the conversation toward research after my PhD and Singapore's health care system (after all, I may be pursing a MD/PhD route). Alice couldn't help me with these topics and suggested that I speak with two of her colleagues, Julian and another manager in the health care field. From these two men, I learned that Singapore's healthcare system is very well-off and that doctors earn very high salaries. This is hopeful in the case that I return to Asia as a MD/PhD; I can either become a doctor or start my own research lab. The possibilities are endless with an American degree, but I do worry that the research won't be cutting-edge research. I asked for the cards of those I spoke with so I could contact them with additional questions. The dinner was definitely a great learning experience.

Group table photo

After the dinner and profuse networking, the alumni brought us to Walbar, a Korean bar in Tanjong Pagar. Emily, James, and Jessica had dinner with Laney earlier to send her off, and joined us at the bar. The alumni purchased several bottles of soju as well as dishes of food. The night was actually quite fun, probably because I drank the most I've ever had. I don't remember the exact number of soju shots I had, but I do remember being inebriated to the point of falling asleep on Michael's and James' shoulders. The alumni were quite adamant about us drinking, and I found that amusing because I would expect working professionals to be more responsible. At the end of the night, the bill came out to be $3600! Thankfully we didn't have to pay for this immense bill.

Group photo!

 We returned to PGP around 3:30 AM, and I quickly showered and changed into more comfortable clothes. James had to do his laundry before his afternoon flight to Hong Kong, so I spent time with him in the lounge while he waited for his laundry. We ended up talking until almost 7 AM (don't worry, we were productive and packed whilst conversing). It was an interesting bonding experience and possibly one of the best conversations I've had in Singapore.